Love Redone in Hidden Harbor (Island County Book 2) by Karice Bolton Page A

arms up and groaned.
    “This has been a long week,” I sighed.
    “Let me help,” Nick said, standing up and moving behind me.
    Nick’s hands slid along my shoulders and began massaging my muscles. It was something he’d done many times before. His fingers kneaded deep, but instead of diminishing the knots, more came with each squeeze. This had to be in my head. He wasn’t interested in me.
    “So do you have a hot date tonight? Is that why you’re not sure about bowling?”
    His grip lessened and slowly fell away. “I don’t know yet. It depends.”
    I turned to look at one of my very best friends and was frightened by what I might see. I prayed the words would not come from his lips.
    “Depends on what?” I asked full of suspicion.
    “How things go,” he said, kneeling next to me.
    “What things?” My heart wanted to leap out of my chest as his eyes steadied on mine.
    “Well, you haven’t had the best of luck with relationships and neither have I.”
    “With one relationship,” I corrected, smiling nervously. “You’re the one with multiples.”
    A smile lurked behind his gaze, but it didn’t appear on his lips. Nick was incredibly attractive and any girl would be so lucky to have him.
    I just wasn’t that girl.
    “After Cole showed up, I kind of wondered why I’d let so much time go by.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “We’ve been best friends forever, and they always say the best relationships develop from friendships.”
    “But we’ve never crossed that line,” I reminded him.
    “You heard Cynthia. She thought we had chemistry and maybe we could.”
    “But we don’t and we both know taking relationship advice from Cynthia wouldn’t do anyone any good.”
    I touched his whiskered cheek and shook my head. “You’re the sweetest friend in the world, but you are just trying to make me feel better because of Cole.”
    “What makes you say that?” he asked.
    “Isn’t that what you’re doing?”
    “Not really. I’d been thinking about it recently and kind of liked it when we were pretending.”
    “If I lost what we had, I’d be devastated.” I tried another approach.
    “You’ve always been stuck on Cole, but he’s the one who left you and he never tried to get you back.”
    Even though it was true, his words stung.
    “You know what, Natty? This isn’t about us. You’re right. We’ve always been friends, but I guess I care about you so much I just want you to be happy. I want you to forget about a man who doesn’t love you. If he did, he’d be here, and I wouldn’t need to be.”
    I watched an elderly couple walk by the window and my chest tightened. Would I ever have that?
    “Have you ever had feelings for me?” I asked, looking directly into his eyes.
    He stayed silent for a beat too long.
    “Nick, have you ever had any sexual feelings toward me?”
    “Not a one.”
    “See how easy that was? That right there decided the fate of our imaginary sexual relationship.”
    “I’d like to think of it more as a sexual escapade,” he said, smiling. “I’m pissed at how someone so confident and full of life could let someone else rip that away from them just by wandering into town.”
    “You’re referring to me?” My fingers touched my chest.
    “I certainly wasn’t talking about Pickles. She’s a cold-hearted b—”
    “Not now.” I held up my hand. “Pickles and I are on good terms, and I don’t want to jeopardize it.”
    “It’s complicated and I’m not letting him rip away my confidence or zest for life. I love my friends. I love what I do for a living. I love my house. I love my life. But seeing him just shook me up a bit.”
    Nick let out a slow breath, and I decided to do something I hoped I wouldn’t regret.
    “Cole thought I had a thing for you.”
    “Recently?”
    I shook my head. “No, back then.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “He seems to think he asked me to move with him to Georgia and I said I couldn’t because of you and my friends.”
    “I